It's crunch time for holiday presents. This close to the weekend, you're either shelling out for 2-day/overnight shipping or just heading into a store to pick up gifts in person. Still stuck for ideas? Just think about what you wanted as a kid, but updated. Luckily our answer to that is "a bike a bike!" and buying bicycles for your friends or family is luckily something easily done last-minute.

As huge proponents of both bike sharing and cycling wherever possible, we admit that our biggest, big-ticket gift suggestion this year (for anyone, really) is a proper sturdy bike with some style. Fortunately one New York City store specializes in such two-wheelers: Adeline Adeline. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-12-20T10:03:39-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/10/5/84211/2288
A cyclist heading up Regent's Canal on a sunny day in London

Underground, bus, and ridiculously pricey black cabs are the three most common modes of transport for visitors to London, but they're certainly not always the most pleasant. If you've ever stood cheek-to-cheek next to a sweaty stranger on the tube, taken a night bus full of drunken teens back to your hotel, or shelled out upward of £30.00 for a taxi ride across town, surely you understand.

But, what you'll also notice on London's streets are a bevy of cyclists, mainly locals, taking advantage of the city's many bike-friendly pathways and routes. Tourists hoping to do the same can rent a Boris bike and make their way around Hyde Park or Regent's Canal, feeling the burn in the process.]]> Heidi Atwal 2011-10-05T08:42:11-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/10/4/95450/2385

This seems crazy, but leave it to Hertz to figure out more ways to rent things that move to travelers when they just don't need cars. We're talking about electric bicycles, which have now entered Hertz's rental fleets in London and—the newest—all over Spain, including Granada, Almería, Alicante, Valencia, Pontevedra, Álava and Barcelona. Even the islands of Mallorca and Formentera haven't been left out; Hertz has brought their nine different types of Swiss Flyer electric bikes off the mainland.

We'd probably most likely use these on an island; it's already on our to-do list now for Palma.]]> JetSetCD 2011-10-04T10:11:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/29/9834/09494

We know that there's plenty of spots to score a rental bike, rental car, or electric rental car, but there really haven't been too many options when it comes to finding and borrowing an electric rental bike. Hertz is about to change that, as they're moving from providing four-wheeled transportation options to two-wheeled as well.

In response to London's mission to turn the city into one of the leading electric vehicle destinations in the world, Hertz has begun to offer up some electric bikes for one and all from their Marble Arch branch in the city. Just £20 will get you access to a bike for the whole day, and not having to pedal your way around the city will probably be quite handy during the warm summer months. ]]> kjb 2011-06-29T11:02:10-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/5/17/204011/769

We can’t get enough of different cities and their bike sharing programs. London and Boston are just two of the latest towns to get their two-wheeled act together in the last couple of years, and earlier this month Toronto joined the pedal powered party.

Canada’s largest city added around 1,000 bikes thanks to a little bit of assistance from around 80 different stations in and about the downtown area. The Public Bike System Company is behind the city’s new shipment of velocipedes, but for those looking to simply score a cheap ride it’s better known as Bixi. This is the same kind of system that’s already in use in spots like Montreal and Washington, DC, so it might look kind of similar—and that’s a good thing. ]]> kjb 2011-05-18T10:43:47-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/5/5/22168/73671

No need to hit up Paris or London this summer to ride around in pay-per-ride bicycles, as another city here at home is getting ready for a two-wheel test. Boston is just about ready to unleash its public bike sharing system on the masses, so get ready for a wicked fun time.

Things are moving full speed ahead, and if all goes as planned, the new system—it's called Hubway—could begin as early as July. They’ll start with just 600 or so bikes at around 60 stations around the city, but they’re already thinking about explaining. Eventually the plan is to have like 5,000 bikes all over the greater metropolitan area including spots like Brookline and Cambridge. ]]> kjb 2011-05-06T11:02:07-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/5/2/192658/7154

If you’ve been to Paris in the last few years, you’ve probably seen all those Vélib bicycles ready for tourists and locals alike to take them for a spin. We’ve even had the pleasure of pedaling one with a baguette in our basket, so it’s with great pleasure that we wish them well on their fourth anniversary this summer.

However, it’s pricey to keep all those seats nice and cushy, and it looks like the bike sharing program is going to cost everyone a few more euros and cents. Starting at the beginning of May—that’s like this week—prices will rise by around 70 cents. Now one-day tickets will set you back €1.70, where things were previously just €1—that’s roughly $2.50 for those of us that have credit cards based in the nifty fifty. ]]> kjb 2011-05-03T11:00:45-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/